Zionist Commission

[2] The Zionist Commission consisted of Weizmann with Israel Sieff as secretary, and Joseph Cowen, Dr. M. D. Eder, Leon Simon from Britain; Commandante Angelo Levi Bianchini from Italy; and Professor Sylvain Lévi from France.

[4] The Commission carried out initial surveys of Palestine and aided the repatriation of Jews sent into exile by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

It restructured the Palestine Office, previously founded by the Zionist Organization (ZO) in 1908,[5] into small departments for agriculture, settlement, education, land, finance, immigration, and statistics.

[6] In June 1918, representing the Zionist Commission, Weizmann traveled to southern Transjordan to meet Emir Feisal, during the British advance from the south against the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

By the time the Report was presented, the British Occupied Enemy Territory Administration had been replaced by a High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel.

Chaim Weizmann and the Zionist Commission, 1918. Also pictured: Edwin Samuel , W.G.A. Ormsby-Gore , Israel Sieff , Leon Simon , James de Rothschild and Joseph Sprinzak .
Emir Feisal I (right) and Chaim Weizmann (also wearing Arab dress as a sign of friendship) in Syria in 1918. At this time Feisal was living in Syria not Iraq.